Hosted at the unbelievably clean Road Track Rally (RTR) workshop in Melbourne’s south east, the crowd was treated to a full day of peak power runs from 25 cars, ranging from Subaru’s, Mitsubishi’s, various euros and of course a large amount of Nissan Skylines!!

The day kicked off bright and early at 9am sharp, a testament not only to the dedication from the boys and girls behind SAU Vic but the boys from RTR as well for being up and running with the first car on the rollers that early on a Sunday!!

Outside the packed workshop, we were treated to a feast of immaculate Skylines that you would hope to see at any good SAU Vic event.

Midway through the day (proving of course that it is always cooler to rock up fashionably late) 4 R35 GT-R’s arrived within minutes of each other drawing quite the crowd.

Nismoo!! (We think this plate would work better with some black vinyl spots all over the car to make it look like a cow!)

Even though we have had more than a few chances to get up close and personal with GT-R’s, I spent some time looking at the latest model. I still find myself getting lost in all the detail, the bulging front fenders, sinister headlights and of course the way the roof comes down so aggressively towards the rear. All of this had me walking around it for minutes before I even thought to press the shutter button on my camera!

It seems we’re not the only ones who are distracted by the looks of the hulking Skyline.

Back inside the workshop was the Mainline Dyno that would see over 5,000KW pushed through it’s rollers across the entire day!

Most of the cars went on with ease however this 370ZX struggled to hide it’s girth after it needed a couple of adjustments to get it on comfortably.

The 370ZX belted out a respectable 204KW at the wheels from the naturally aspirated V6, not bad at all!!

The crowd was kept informed throughout the day by this 46″ display, complete with a leader board that was constantly being updated as each car showed us what it was made of. The SAU Vic kids do not mess about!

We saw run after run, but none impressed quite like Rob’s R33’s effort to shoot three foot flames after hitting a peak power of 221kw’s from the rear wheels.

Back outside the growing crowd was invited to ‘guess the power’ of this R32 GT-R.

Owner Samir remained tight lipped so as not to ruin the game. All the guests had to go on was the visual cues from the intimidating exhaust and a host of goodies tucked away under the bonnet of the GT-R.

We’re big fans of Samir’s approach with the car and would love to feature it in the near future.

The crowd waited in anticipation to see if their guess was on the prize…

After getting strapped down by the RTR crew, Samir’s R32 put down 313.4kw at all four wheels! The most powerful car on the day excluding the R35 GT-R’s. We reckon that isn’t something to turn your nose up at!!

From the most powerful car to the wooden spoon of the day… David’s tongue-in-cheek Hyundai Excel certainly turned a few heads as it rolled onto the dyno.

While it certainly didn’t break any records it was the most consistent car of the day putting down 45kw flat for three consecutive runs.

While waiting for cars to come and go from the dyno I found myself lost in the workshop once again. At every event I’ve ever attended at Road Track Rally I end up getting caught up in exploring all the corners of the factory.
From expensive tyres mounted and ready for the next track day or shakedown test of the teams Evo X race car…

To the unseen beauty of the undercarriage of a customers Mitsubishi Evolution X.

The Evo X on the hoist was also getting it’s brakes freshened up so I got a good look at its’ stopping power.

At the far end of the workshop, I spotted this Subaru Forester missing a vital component…

I found the engine not far away looking just as clean as the car itself, my mind wonders thinking about what work the engine is getting done!

Back up the front another customers car, this time an Evo 9.
The boys at Road Track Rally are synonymous with Mitsubishi Evo’s, both maintenance and performance wise. So if you get excited by Mitsubishi AWD turbos then you probably need to know the guys down at RTR.

Back out the front there were heaps of cars coming and going and one car in particular stole our attention, well the wheels caught our eye would be a more accurate description of events.

It was Nick’s diesel Golf, now sporting some uber-cool Land Rover wheels. Nicks’ Golf wasn’t there just to look pretty though as it also made an appearance on the dyno!
It managed a respectable 108kw at the wheels! While this might not be at the top of the leader board, remember it is a diesel powered Golf so torques the game and this little guy wins with almost the same amount of torque as a 200KW Mitsubishi Evo!!
So next time you hear a tractor at the lights next to you, have a second thought.

Out on the street there was some more Euro action, with a pair of black VW Bora’s. Bora by name but not by looks… These two had a touch of VIP flair with some killer wheel choices and fitment!

Further up the street I spotted this white S15 trying to find a park with his matching white S15 buddy, this is the perfect look on this car in my eyes. ‘Keep it simple stupid’ has never been more fitting!!

Something we don’t see enough of here on GSS, more cars with horses for emblems! However this is no prancing Italian horse!

The first generation Ford Mustang! I must say this is one of the finest examples I have seen with my own eyes! If you know the owner then please get them to contact us at enq@gripshiftslide.com! We love this car!

Not too far away I spotted a stickered up Infinity Skyline, extra points for the Gripshiftslide sticker and world famous Kebabhunters sticker. (Both available from our online store, http://store.gripshiftslide.com)

After my short stroll around the street I headed back to find this driven and enjoyed R33 GT-R, there were a few giveaways this car gets to see it’s fair amount of track days. Like the serious looking Advan A050 tyres, the not so stupidly low ride height and of course the giant numbers on the rear quarter window!

Back inside the team had just finished running Samir’s ‘Guess the power’ R32 before the lunch break. The boys and girls from SAU Vic had a free BBQ for all the hungry mouths that attended and this was no easy feat, but the team managed to feed everyone there!!

After the short break it was back to work and the dyno was up and running cars in just a few minutes.

While we were paying attention to all the nice cars on show we spotted a few bits of street wear, (shameless plug) like this gripshiftslide cap!

Also this super cool and impossible to get Stanceworks Australia hoodie, seriously you can’t get them… We tried!

Before the long awaited dyno shootout between the four R35 GT-R’s in the afternoon, SAU Vic president John ‘Richo’ handed out a few prize packs, including some products from Motul Australia who are big supporters of the club.

So it is true what they say, winners are grinners!!

Some of the Motul gear on offer for those lucky enough to win a prize.

With the crowd the largest we’d seen it all day, something special must have been happening…

That of course was finally getting to see some modern Japanese muscle stretch its’ legs on the dyno.

One after another we saw all four go head to head.

The sound the twin turbo V6 makes is mental anywhere in the room, I was brave (read stupid enough) to stand only one meter away… Needless to say it is a sound that will stay with me for some time!

All eyes were on ‘Nismoo’ who was tipped to be a favorite for the highest power on the day.

Landing an impressive best run of 389kw at the wheels, painfully though only loosing by 1kw to Sam’s black R35. That just goes to show what a few bolt ons can do to improve performance with the lowest rated R35 on the day hitting 320kw.

The excitement in the room as ‘Nismoo’ pulled out of the workshop was insane, every man, woman and child was in awe of the white beast.

Easily our favorite event of the year so far (aside from our own of course!)

We cannot express how well run the SAU events are and we hope to learn a thing from John and the team for our future events and we look forward to anything that has those three letters attached to it – ‘SAU’.
A big thanks goes out to Dan and the team at Road Track Rally for providing the perfect backdrop and workshop for these events and support the car scene here in Melbourne.